She types "Jughead Jones" into the search bar and is immediately presented with his channel and his own twitter account in the results. Betty taps around, investigating how this Jughead Jones interacts with his followers and curiously tries to decypher what his content type is without actually scrolling through his videos.
Jughead? Her face scrunches up in confusion. Who decides to go with a nickname like that?
His Twitter commentary points to dry sarcasm and she squints closer at his icon picture. Finally, she clicks it.
He's just what she expects from Veronica's description of "dark and brooding" and "intense". His face is slender, his nose is long-ish, his hair is… kinda cute. Thick-looking and wavy. Caving to her inner demand, she finds him on YouTube and begins to flick around, not entirely certain she even wants to be in this area of the internet.
Woah -
This dude sounded smart. He made videos about things Betty wouldn't even know where to begin with. Political issues, crime, ethics.
Meanwhile, she's over in her corner talking about Union Square Green Market and it's history. Not for the first time, she debates whether or not going to Playlist Live is actually a good idea.
She's hardly of this calibre.
The crowds outside are thick enough that Betty starts getting anxious, craning her neck and trying to see above people even though she's on the short side; it's futile, and it's a fact she's known for years, and yet -
Veronica notices her disposition and reaches for her arm, threading her own around Betty's and pulling her back to the present.
"I know you're nervous but really - everything's gonna be fine. We're going to have a blast. Archie!" she calls the last part out, waving him over with an excited hand.
The white in Betty's knuckles fades back to flesh tone.
"Hey," Archie greets them both, leaning in to peck Veronica's waiting cheek. "Jug says it's a bit of a mad house inside, but to try and find him if we have time."
Betty's stomach clenches and as it turns out, he's not wrong. The trio makes it inside the building, lanyards stuffed with the appropriate proof for admittance, and there's people everywhere. The crowd is like a living organism, bending and flexing and smoothing constantly. Off to the left, there's a stage - or it is two stages? - and there's loud noise coming from the speakers set on either side.
Noise. That's what this all is.
People jostle at her back, and someone bumps into her from behind, shoving what feels like an elbow in between her shoulder blades. It knocks some breath out of her momentarily and Betty has to mentally gather herself up in her arms because she can feel the tightening in her chest, the leaden weight of anxiety that she was so well acquainted with -
Not today, Cooper. Today is not the day.
Betty takes a deep breath.
Veronica and Archie are busy chatting away about something, as then tend to do, and they're both so not like her; there's a plan forming between them, a game plan for making their way through the event without losing each other or their minds.
"Betty!" Veronica hails her over with businesslike urgency. "Archie, hold this for a hot minute, will you?" She's pushing the paper they'd just had between them into his hands and directing him to hold it up for her benefit.
"A hot minute, or a hot -"
"Ignore him," V chirps cheerfully, pressing forward. "Okay, so, here we are, and here's the booths and sponsor stuff, and here's the stages - those ones -" she points out the obvious, "for presentations and shows and whatnot and here's the skill-building stuff. You said you were interested most in that, right?"
"I think so? I don't really know," she huffs out a laugh, willing herself to focus on her roommate's words instead of letting the busy atmosphere carry her away. "V, it's really busy here."
Veronica ducks her head in order to catch Betty's eye and squares their shoulders to each other. Her hands are clasping her upper arms securely, and Betty's momentarily distracted by V's glossy nails.
"Snap out of it, Betty. This is a good thing," she impresses.
"A good thing," Betty repeats convincingly, willing it to be true.
"A great thing," Archie adds, and the girls look up at his voice.
"You're sweet to be here, Archie, thank you," Betty gives him a thankful smile.
"Oh, Archibald," Veronica flutters, fingers tracing along the string of creamy pearls at her neck.
"What?" he asks, the tips of his ears darkening. He tries to brush it off with a shrug. "Ronnie tells me how much work you put into things, so... I just think you deserve to be here as much as anyone else."
Veronica simultaneously leans up and pulls him down by his shirt, kissing him firmly on the lips as Betty grins. They reinforce her bubble of confidence and she silently - so as not to interrupt their moment - thanks the universe for offering up that particular Craigslist ad at just the right time. They separate, and Betty follows after them into the crowd.
It's a whirlwind.
People chattering happily, bodies moving and expressing enthusiasm, cheering, faces turned to speakers in rapt attention, panels, winding lineups, emergency exits.
Betty soon realizes this is exactly where she wants to be.
And -
As soon as she does, Betty finds herself as another added to the 'paying very close attention to something very specific' group. First it's a discussion about directional mics, and then it's about cutting clips together, and after that she's onto content development. By the time the late afternoon arrives, Veronica is slumped against Archie's side, and he's carrying her purse in the same manner he might sling a sweater over his shoulder - hanging on by one hooked finger.
Archie slows for a minute before raising his arm from around Veronica, giving a big wave to someone Betty can't see.
"Jug!" he bellows.
A tall, dark-haired person raises a hand to him in recognition over the people between them and soon Jughead Jones is weaving through the crowd, his path occasionally truncated by another pass-holder. His brows are dark, his eyes focused, and he slinks toward them. Betty notices, as she sees flashes of him approaching between other people, that he's sort of dark all over. Dark pants, grey plaid, olive-grey shirt. Suspenders hanging down around his knees. She didn't peg him for a 'useless pair of suspenders' kind of guy. And he's wearing a beanie in the middle of summer.
"Arch, hey," he says, eyes flicking between Veronica and Betty, who's trying not to seem too underwhelmed. "Veronica," he finishes with, inclining his head a fraction of an inch.
"Jughead, this is Betty Cooper, my roommate, the one I was telling you about."
Betty snaps her eyes away from the newcomer, cutting to Veronica's slightly-too-innocent looking smile. Betty realizes instantly that there is some sort of hidden agenda on her roommate's part and she doesn't really like where it's going.
"Nice to meet you," she holds out her hand, regardless. Jughead takes it in his own automatically, and the handshake is brief but strong.
"The one who just started making videos, too," V continues as if Betty hadn't said anything.
"Yeah." Jughead is still peering at her, the gaze neutral and detached. "I've seen a few; they're cute."
Was that really a compliment one said thank you for? By all accounts, this man had a rather outspoken opinion on most things under the sun and eloquently stated them whenever and however he liked. Betty's urge to roll her eyes was overwhelming so instead she gave him a somewhat tight-feeling smile.
"Hey, I'm starving," she says, mainly to Veronica, and effectively sidesteps the need to respond directly to his statement.
"Oh, food's that way," Jughead points over his shoulder before lowering his hand, fingers scratching his side before patting his stomach happily. "If you're in the mood for a burger, Vera's is the stand to visit."
Betty excuses herself as politely as possible, and Veronica promises to be along in a minute.
"It was nice meeting you," she says by way of goodbye to Archie's friend.
"Likewise."
A/N: Thanks to everyone leaving comments here and on my tumblr! You guys are super.
